Off-duty EMT jumps in to help woman give birth in parking lot: 'That's why I got into this profession'

Many expectant mothers prepare for giving birth in a hospital. But sometimes things don’t go as planned, which is how Heather Wilson ended up having her baby boy in a grocery store parking lot in West Liberty, Ohio.

Wilson told WHIO TV in Dayton that she was 36 weeks along and had been having ongoing Braxton Hicks contractions (false labor pains) when she realized she was about to give birth. Although she and her boyfriend, Tim Jones, made an attempt to get to the hospital, there simply wasn’t enough time. Instead, the pair pulled into an IGA grocery parking lot where she started to push. Luckily for them, an off-duty EMT happened to be driving by.

Chris Stafford made a call to his fellow technicians, pulled up to Wilson and Jones’s car, and immediately hopped out to help.

“It really went so fast,” Stafford told WHIO. “I didn’t have a chance to think about it much, other than that people are in distress and needed help. That’s why I got into this profession — to help those in need.”

Just two minutes after the baby was born, both Wilson and her newborn were rushed to the hospital with the help of two on-duty EMTs — one of whom was Stafford’s mom, Teresa Yoder.

Once they all made it to the hospital, the couple decided to honor Stafford by naming their little boy Christian. Although Wilson felt like it was the least they could do for the man who brought their baby into the world safely, Yoder said it was a sweet surprise for the emergency medical technicians.

“A lot of times, what we see is ugly, so you kind of expect it,” Yoder said. “But it was a really nice, happy story.”